Easy Yummy Fudge

This easy chocolate fudge skips the trickiest parts of traditional fudge: no candy thermometer, no soft-ball stage to nail, no risk of grainy crystallization. Sweetened condensed milk provides all the structure and sweetness, so all you need to do is melt and stir.

The sweetened condensed milk is the workhorse here. Its already-cooked sugar combined with the chocolate creates a smooth, sliceable fudge with that classic dense texture, all without any of the temperature monitoring that scares most home cooks away from candy making.

Use the double boiler as the recipe specifies. Direct heat scorches chocolate fast, leaving you with a grainy, broken mess. The gentle steam heat keeps things smooth and gives you the time to stir in the other ingredients without the chocolate seizing up.

Butter the pan generously, not lightly. Fudge sticks aggressively to under-buttered pans, and you’ll lose half the batch trying to get it out. A thick layer of butter creates a clean release and slight sheen on the bottom of the squares.

Pro Tips

• Use real chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, not chocolate-flavored coating wafers. Coating wafers contain palm oil and don’t set up properly.
• Toast the nuts in a dry skillet before adding for deeper flavor. Walnuts, pecans, or almonds all work; chop them small for clean slicing.
• Line the pan with parchment paper overhanging two sides for easy lift-out. This makes cutting cleaner squares much easier than working in the pan.
• Use a sharp knife dipped in hot water for slicing. Wipe between cuts for the cleanest edges.

Variations

• Stir in 1 cup of mini marshmallows after the chocolate melts for rocky road style fudge.
• Use white chocolate or peanut butter chips in place of the dark chocolate for a different flavor base.
• Add 1 teaspoon of espresso powder with the vanilla for a deeper, more complex chocolate flavor.